Welcome to the Skylarks Class!
Staff
Teacher: Charlotte Harlow
TAs: Nicola Hicklin, Claire Agnew and Ellie Cozens
Mid Day Leader: Scarlett Kelbie
Newsletter
Food Glorious Food
Hi everybody,
This half term has only been a short one and it has flown by! We’re hoping after Easter we get some better weather and can enjoy outside a bit more!
This half term we have been exploring the story ‘The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch’– our favourite part is definitely when those pesky seagulls steal Mr Grinling’s lunch! Every week we have listened to the story and explored the characters and setting from the book. We have made our own lunch for the lighthouse keeper, explored the seaside, practiced spelling key words and reenacted the story with the props. We have continued our individual skills work, have practiced spirals in Move and Mark and visited the library every week.
In Maths we have continued our small group focused work – we are all doing really well. We have loved our Wednesday number songs and some of us have even practiced writing our numbers!
In Understanding the World this half term we have explored plants and nature! We have made our own plant pots, explored soil, leaves and flowers and made our own nature crowns. We have looked at the nature in our own yard and visited the jungle to explore the trees, leaves and flowers. In ‘I wonder’ we have been exploring the Christian story of Easter and traditions around this – we have had Easter egg hunts, made Easter bonnets and explored Spring animals.
In our Creative Development sessions we have been exploring foods and plants. We have printed with different vegetables, made cotton wool ice cream cones and collaged different fruits. We have practiced cutting in food discovery; every week we have explored a different colour food from the story ‘which food will you choose?’ and chose which food we would like. We have then practiced chopping it up and tasting.
We skylarks have continued to enjoy exploring our shared spaces including swimming, shared play, soft play and the library. We have also explored the jungle, tried rebound therapy and have been doing some amazing yoga and dancing in Physical Development.
Have a lovely Easter and half term,
Skylarks class team
Signalong
At Kingfisher we use Signalong as a part of a Total Communication Approach, we are constantly using core vocabulary with the children to support their language development and then through each of our topics we introduce new signs and language, which extends their vocabulary further. We also have two “Signs of the Week” which helps maintain and extend key knowledge and skills of everyday vocabulary.
Each half term we will be creating a short video showcasing and demonstrating signs relavent for the current term so that you can learn the signs and further this learning at home.
Click play to watch this half terms Signalong video!
Lunchtime
If your child has a school dinner, the school menus can be accessed by clicking here. For children who bring a packed lunch, please remember to provide healthy and balanced options. We are a Healthy School and will be focusing on healthy eating and how children can make healthy lifestyle choices.
How You Can Help at Home
- Our story this half term will be ‘The Doorbell Rang – you can watch the story online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-tqjCPnHLg
- Try making your own cookies together like they eat in the story!
- Everything is an opportunity for communication! Give your child lots of opportunities to make choices and requests at home. Please contact me if you would like any symbols to support this. Exchanging symbols is a great step forward in communicating your wants and needs. Make sure you always model the language for them.
- This half term we will be exploring people who help us and things in our community:
- Visit as many places as possible – is there a fire station nearby, or a hairdresser? Could you do a visit to the supermarket?
- Spend as much time in nature as you can – can your child find a leaf? A flower? A tree?
- For physical development we will be completing dancing and yoga; one of our favourite videos is from cosmic yoga on YouTube – we are really good at these, why not try at home? https://www.youtube.com/@CosmicKidsYoga
- In food discovery we are practicing mixing and whisking; practice these skills at home by mixing cake mixture, making icing, whipping cream and making your own playdough!
- Encourage your child’s self-help skills:
- Practice washing your hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQn0z6xa8II
- Practice brushing teeth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCio_xVlgQ0
